Monthly Archives: March 2014

The last couple of months have been busy busy busy, and I even started my January edition in January (!) but then it never got finished. So here’s what’s been coming off of my needles and, for the first time, hooks!

I finished a couple of pairs of fingerless mitts for myself.

These are the Mittens with Pints On by Spilly Jane in KnitPicks Palette. I knit Paul a pair of these for Christmas a couple years back and decided to make myself a fingerless pair.

I am oh-so-very close to being finished with my Cool Wool Hat and Cowl Set. I just need to find some buttons, sew said buttons on, crochet a couple of button loops and block the cowl.

(Sorry for the major flash blowout. Nighttime pictures.)

I also whipped up this cute little guy. I’ve tried to learn to crochet several times and it had yet to stick, but I think this time I might actually have it! His ears are a bit wonky, but I think he’s a good attempt for my first toy for which I was been pretty confident I was crocheting it right. He still doesn’t have a tail because the instructions are a bit confusing to me. I’ll have to wait until my wonderful teacher Claire can help me through.

This is the Shapely Boyfriend by Stefanie Japel. This pattern was definitely easy to follow, and once I got into it, modifying it slightly was really simple. I decided to go with inexpensive yarn just in case it turned out terribly. It turned out great, so of course now I sort of wish I’d got something a bit nicer. We’ll see how well it wears. This pattern was also super quick. It was easy to sit down for an hour or two and see my progress.

I added an extra repeat at the hip increases because I wanted it to be nice and long and based on my measurements I thought it would fit better around my hips. I also added 5 rows to the ribbing. I think my row gauge was a bit off, because it turned out really long (as you can see) but definitely not longer than I like to wear. My buttonholes also turned out a bit wonky but I was able to fix them. I sort of just decided to wing it and didn’t actually look up the best method to put buttonholes into a buttonband. The pattern definitely doesn’t walk you through every single step. I also worked 8 buttonholes instead of 7 like the pattern calls for the extra hip repeat. I also added some length to the sleeves so I could turn up the cuffs a couple of inches. I used this method for knitting clean stripes in ribbing.

I used Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off to finish all the edges.

Now all that’s left is to put my grosgrain ribbon, buttons and backer buttons! I should have some time to work on that on Saturday.